A 10-week shoot started in mid-December on The Current War starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Michael Shannon as Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse. The Weinstein Company and Bazelevs Production are behind the period feature, which took in UK locations including the Royal Pavilion, Brighton. Alfonso Gomez-Rejon directs from Michael Mitnick’s screenplay about the race to supply electricity to America.

Tom Wilkinson, Aneurin Barnard and Marion Bailey star in Dead in a Week: Or Your Money Back, which began a six-week shoot in London on 27 January. The feature comes from writer/director Tom Edmunds and producers Daniel-Konrad Cooper and Nick Clark Windo. It centres on a young man who, after multiple unsuccessful attempts to take his own life, decides to ‘outsource’ his suicide to an ageing assassin.

Rachel Weisz is among the producers on Disobedience, which started a six-week shoot in north London on 3 January. Weisz also stars alongside Rachel McAdams in the film which is an adaptation of Naomi Alderman’s book about a young woman who returns to her orthodox Jewish home when she learns of the death of her estranged father. Sebastian Lelio directs from a screenplay he wrote with Rebecca Lenkiewicz.

Wales and Las Vegas provided two of the key locations for Show Dogs, a forthcoming family comedy from The Smurfs director Raja Gosnell. Pinewood Studio Wales housed the film for nine weeks at the end of last year before filming moved to the US in January. The film centres on Max, a macho police Rottweiler that goes undercover at a dog show. Stanley Tucci and Ludacris are among the voice cast.

Kenneth Branagh’s big-screen take on the Agatha Christie classic promises a display of acting chops as high-profile as the 1974 version. The director – who will himself be playing Hercule Poirot - has assembled names including Johnny Depp, Daisy Ridley, Penelope Cruz, Michelle Pfeiffer, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench and Derek Jacobi, to name but a few. Filming began at Longcross Studios in November and is due to wrap in the next few weeks; Michael Green (Blade Runner 2049, Logan) has written the screenplay.

Filming is due to wrap in mid-March on Loaded, a new comedy drama for Channel 4 and AMC. Hillbilly Films and Keshet International are making the 8 x 45 which comes from writer Jon Brown (Cuban Fury, Fresh Meat). The show is about four best friends and business partners who become overnight multi-millionaires when they sell their video gaming company. Production has been based at an old BT building in Ealing; the project was first listed on PI in January last year.

The second series of Upstart Crow began shooting in the last week of January and wraps at the of the first week of March. Seven episodes are being filmed at The London Studios to incorporate a Christmas special. Ben Elton is the pen behind the BBC Two comedy which stars David Mitchell as William Shakespeare. Series Two also sees Emma Thompson as Queen Elizabeth I.

A 6 x 60 drama for BBC Two called The Last Post finished a four-month shoot in South Africa, with a handful of UK HoDs. The country was used to double for Aden as the series is based on Peter Moffat’s childhood memories of the Yemeni city in the 1960s. The series comes from The Forge and Bonafide Films. Miranda Bowen and Jonny Campbell each directed three episodes.

The ninth and final run of Inspector George Gently has been in production in the north east since the start of 2017, to be delivered as 2 x 120 episodes. Martin Shaw has starred as the titular Chief Inspector in the BBC One period drama, which is produced by Company Pictures, since its series debut in 2008. The drama is loosely based on Alan Hunter’s novel and relocates the action from the original setting of Norfolk to the fictitious North East Police Constabulary.

The BBC’s Head of Values, Ian Fletcher, is back for more indecision-making in the third series of W1A. Hugh Bonneville, Jason Watkins, Jessica Hynes, Sarah Parish and Nina Sosanya head the cast of the comedy, which is written and directed by John Morton. The six-week shoot started on 6 February. The executive producer is Jon Plowman; Paul Schlesinger produces.

Last week I attended an industry event for The Knowledge which proved an enormous success. There was a real buzz as hundreds of movers and shakers debated, discussed and did deals around drama in its many forms.

Representatives from the children's creative industries in the UK have sent an open letter to the Chancellor urging him to commit to a children's television tax break in tomorrow's Autumn Statement. Hours later their wishes have come true.